The state Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities held a public hearing on two bills Monday that could affect research and scholarship funds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The first bill introduced at the hearing pertained to monetary value of academic excellence scholarships and the eligibility criteria used to award them to students. Currently, $2,250 scholarships are awarded to high-achieving Wisconsin residents attending UW-Madison, according to a report from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.
State Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, testified to raise the number of scholarships given and individual scholarship amount to $4,500. During the 2013-’14 academic year, 357 academic scholarships were declined, according to Stroebel.
Stroebel said Wisconsin’s students have chosen to attend other schools with larger and more prolific scholarships as a result of a “bidding war.” Increasing scholarship money would make UW-Madison “more competitive to the academic excellent,” Stroebel said.
The Assembly committee also heard testimonies on a bill that would provide a broad exception to the Open Records Law relating to research and encourage the UW System to expand classified research.
State Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, announced moments before the hearing the section containing the exception to the Open Records Law had been dropped from the bill due to concerns of public examinations.
The UW System drastically reduced its classified research program after Sterling Hall, which housed the Army Mathematics Research Center, was bombed in August 1970 in protest of government research for the Vietnam War. Multiple parties have since lobbied for the UW System to expand classified research.
State Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, R-New Berlin, testified for the bill, saying an increase in classified research would encourage larger grants from the federal government.
Additionally, State Rep. Robb Kahl, D-Monona, said the U.S. Department of Defense allocates $13 billion annually for research funding and the UW System has remained in the top five universities for research in the past 25 years. Kahl also emphasized Johns Hopkins University receives more grant money than any other university in the country due to its focus on classified research.
